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Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Food Pyramid Is Not A Joke

When is the last time you made sure you were eating all your daily nutrients? Are you consciously tracking your servings of fruit, veggies, grains and meats? Do you even know what an actual serving of veggies should look like? The food pyramid has grown up since you've been in elementary school, and you've got a lot to learn!

It wasn't until recently that I started paying attention to the foods I put into my body. I used to just eat to satisfy my cravings. I have since then learned the lesson that I am "eating to live" not "living to eat." Your food is the gas you put into your body to run. It can run on crappy gas, but it will eventually ruin the car and you will breakdown. (This is why symptoms like headaches, thinning hair, fatigue, etc are all signs you need to improve your eating habits).

Lacey has written a great review post on the book "Eat To Live". I recommend you read this post, and check out the book. A lot of our health problems and concerns are directly affected by the food we put into our bodies.

So how do you actually eat to live? Well, that is what thefood pyramid is for! The food pyramidshould be used as a daily eating guideline. As you can see, most of your daily foods should be fresh, unprocessed food. Sure, you can snack, but I usually try to have less than 10% of my daily calories be junk food.

MyPyramid.govis an EXCELLENT resource! They have interactive tools for food planning, food tracking, food research. They also have adaily food plannerthat you can customize to your body. You can even print a PDF of your results for easy access. I keep a copy on me during the week so I am reminded of all the nutrients I need to eat to keep my body going! It's do or die - your body seriously needs you to eat these nutrients (and not just through vitamins). > What steps will you take today to get your body the nutrients it desperately needs to live?